The Portland daily press., 1887-06-22
PASTURES NEW.
What the Canadian Pacific Is Doing
for the Hunter and Tourist.
Treasures of Came and Scenery that
the New Road Is Laying Bare.
kIneo ReJolces at the Prospect OF Be
coming Metropolis Of Leisure.
Correspondence of the PREss.l

into the Maine woods, came from Greenyille
to Kineo on the little steamer Moosehead.
Captain King. He has told us who were
travelling on Moosehead Lake that autumn
day, thirty-four years ago: "There were
but few passengers, and not one female
among them: st. Francis Indian, with his
canoe and moose hides, two explorers for
lumber. three men who landed at Sandbar
Island, and gentleman who lives on Deer
Island, eleven miles up the lake, and owns
also Sugar Island, between which and the
former the steamer runs; these, l think,
were all besides ourselves" Could Thoreau
go up the Lake this year on an August or
September day, he would find the boat
crowded with expectant tourists, men and
women in search Of rest and pleasure. The
st. Francis Indian is gone, and in his place
are young men Of even more leisure; the
boat is loaded no longer with moose and
hides, but with huge trunks Of surplus cloth
Ing and fnery,-the paraphernalia Of that
side OF social life for which the admirer Of
tne Maine woods had such profound aver
| sion.
In thrty-four years the change has been
considerable; but unless the most reliable
signs fail, the next FIVE years will make a
greater change. In the scenery about 1t the
Lake Is probably not much different from
the Moosehead seen by ThOrean on the
stormy day In 1853: "a suitably wild-loOk-
Ing sheet OF water, sprinkled with small, low
Islands, which were covered with shaggy
| spruce and other wild wood" IL Is still the
| arena Of a vast mountain amphitheatre, and
few are the clearings made in the forests
tnat look down into its waters. This sum-
mer, however, there has been wrought one
remarkable change. Extending from Green
vile up the west side Of the Lake for twelve
4 ms artrfr of
betweenElake and mountains, a leYelway Is
| cleared. Ravines are filed, brooks bridged
Iedges cut through; the Canadian Pacific
| Railway Is TO pass this way.
Ihe Important advantages that are expect
ed to result TO certain Of the industries Of
Maine from the advent Of this road have al
ready been noticed. The treasures Of noun
tain, lake and valley scenery that this rail-
| road Will put within easy reach of the tour
list Is subject Of no less Importance and in
terest. IL has been within few years only
that the Maine woods have begun to be ap-
Rreciated by a large number of tourists.
reople have gone to Old Orchard and Bar
HarDor to spend the summer as a matter Of
course; The delightful experiment Of COM
high,
REMARKABLE CLIFF OF MOUNT
kineo and the level peninsular at its foot
have always made 1t notable locality in
Moosehead Lake. and the entire region. Be-
fore the white men came the hornstone of
the mountain furnished flint for the arrow
heads and hatchets of Indians in all parts Of
New England. The peculiar shape of the
cliff gave rise to an enduring Indian tradi-
tion that here mighty aboriginal hunter
| slew the queen OF the COW moose, whose
head sank to the earth only to form the alb
rupt cliff Of Kineo. For many years there
has been Kineo House. The lake has al
ways been great highway for lumbermen.
II Is now. Probably eight hundred or a
thousand men passed by Kineo into the
| woods last fall. Sportsmen, also, have been
| frequenting the vicinity for long time. At
tnls season OF tne year you may meet on the
| piazza OF the kineo House fishermen who
have been coming here regularly with the
| fishing season for twenty or thirty years,
| yet the lake with its tributaries still affords
the finest Of fishing. During the fly fishing
| Of last September one man brought into
Sats nSn weiTHng IN tne aggre-
/ OF six Boston gentlemen who call themselves
| the Moose River Reform Club, fished five
days. In that time they caught three hun
dred and eighty-nine trout, weighing in all
| five hundred and eighteen pounds. The
| largest fish weighed four pounds. 1t will be
| observed that the average weight of each
| days catch was more than one hundred
pounds. 1t is to the fishermen and hunters
| that kineo owes its present popularity as a
| summer resort The wives, sisters and daugh-
| ters have followed 1.-THE husbands, brothers
and.fathers. Their coming hasIDeen very re-
cent however. In 1868, when Mr.. Dennen,
manager OF the kinco House, came here, he
found small house Of only forty rooms.
| Hunters, lumbermsn and fishermen were his
| guests. Everything Of this house but the
bowling alley burned that same year. In
1870 he began to rebuild. By 1882, after
| successive enlargements by which he OBJ
| tained a house of 16S rooms, Kineo was
becoming somewhat famous as a resort.
| But the second disastrous fire DESTROYED the
house again. In July, 1888, the present ele-
ow;ng as;S mose. vsa was % pgu1 ana I'm nnis1ed tne io
| popularity as a resort. Then, to use the ex-
| preston OF one OF the Lake steamboat cap
| tains, "l0w necked dresses began to appear"
| Last year, from the first Of the fishing sea-
/ son in May, until the close of the hunting
season, more than
| THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE
were entertained at Kineo. During the
month of July, when the fishing was ending
and people were beginning to come from the
seaside, about seven hundred and fifty guests
registered at the Kineo House. In August,
which with September, Is the most fashion
| able month, more than eight hundred pleas
| ure-seekers were here; and in September
| there was an equal number. In October,
/ when the season for hunting big game came
| on. three hundred and fifty came TO kine0
| During the three seasons that the house has
|
Of travel has increased nearly one hundred
/ per cent. The reputation OF the hotel, with
| its accommodations for from three TO four
| hundred people and furnishings and equip
/ ment equal to that Of the best summer hotels
| in New England, has done much, Of course,
| TO bring about the increase of travel to
MoOsehead There is also a smaller, but
very well kept hotel, at Deer Island. another
at Lily Bay, one at the Outlet Of the Kenne;,
bee, where considerable fishing is done, and
three at Greenvllle. These hotels, with the
| kineo House, probably entertained from
| four to five thousand people last season, a
fair measure Of the yolumelof summer travel
| to Moosehead,
| The encouraging increase Of the numbers
i Of these tourists has stimulated business
around the Lake, and aroused new hopes in
| the hearts Of those who are interested in its
| development as summer resort The cap
tain Of one of 1.-THE steamers said while COM
| ing up the Lake: IF we had
| PAYsoN TUCKER AND +. L. BooTHBY,
to take hold of Moosehead Lake as they
have taken hold Of Bar Harbor, there
wouldn't be steamers enough ON the Lake to
haul the people that would come here"
| The Piscataquis road has done great deal
for the region, and has pushed ON to the
Lake at great expense; but there is feel
ing here that connection with a more pow
erful road, like the Maine Central, is neces-
/ sary Tor the best development. Indeed, there
is great confidence expressed that the Maine
| Central is looking In this direction.
| There are several possible ways whereby
the Maine Central might gain an entrance TO
| this region. 1t might buy the Piseataquis
road 1t might give its aid to the road that Is
now struggling to get from Pittsdeld through
Hartland and MOnson TO Greenville, and
there are some circumstances which at least
suggest this course; 1t might, possibly, get
control of the proposed Penobscot Central to
Milo, should the proposed lease TO the Pis-
cataquis road fail, and thence get to the Lake
via the Katahdin Iron Works road and the
Canadian Pacific line and finally ii might
get control Of the proposed line from SkOw-
hegan up the Kennebec valley 10 the Cana
dian Pacific line and so on tO Moosehead
| Lake over that road.
Perhaps the last route would be the most
promising, as 1t would give the nearest en-
trance to a magnificent region for hunting,
fishing and recreation that Is now little
known. Few know much about the region
that the Canadian Pacific traverses from the
Western borders Of Maine to Moosehead.
But q talk with the Canadian engineers at
Greenville who have been through the whole
country, and have seen it In the beauty Of
summer and glory of autumn, as well as in
the wildness of winter, would open their
eyes to the unsupported treasure Maine has
| In her WOO1S They sav that their raflraad